Texas energy freeze

Texas's freeze entered a sixth day on Thursday, as the biggest

energy-producing state in the United States grappled with
massive refining outages and an oil and gas shutdown that
rippled beyond its borders into neighboring Mexico.
The cold snap, which has killed at least 21 people and knocked
out power to more than 4 million people in Texas, is not expected
to let up until this weekend. The deep freeze has shut about one-
fifth of the nation's refining capacity and closed oil and natural gas
production across the state.
The outages in the state also affected power generation in
Mexico, with exports of natural gas via pipeline dropping off by
about 75 percent over the last week, according to preliminary
Refinitiv Eikon data.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott directed the state's natural gas
providers not to ship outside Texas, but state regulators said it is
unlikely that they have the right to interfere with existing contracts
to buyers.
"I'm not sure we have authority to mess with that, nor do I really
want to," said Jim Wright, one of three members of the Texas
Railroad Commission, the state's oil and gas regulator.
The ban prompted a response from officials in Mexico, as U.S.
gas pipeline exports to Mexico fell to 4.3 billion cubic feet per day
on Wednesday, down from an average over the past 30 days of 5.7
billion, according to data from Refinitiv.
NBC reported on Thursday that Abbott said 325,000 people remained
without power due to the heavy storm and warned "temperatures will
again drop overnight."

Source: CGTN news